CBA...starting over

[Bobo]

A year ago I bought a Roland FR-1xb. I started working through the Galliano book, which moves a little quickly if it's your only resource.

I also used Palmer-Hughes Adventures In Bassland, which is excellent for the left hand.

I burned out after a few months and put it all away. I was practicing every day: scales, exercises, method book. But not MUSIC! I'm not a stranger to hard work and practice; I'm a fairly accomplished keyboardist and played professionally for many years. But this process felt like work, not fun.

I'm attacking it again. This time I pulled out my old Palmer-Hughes PA books and I'm painstakingly translating the fingering over for CBA. It's not fun but at least I will have some entry-level songs to practice. I feel like I've scoured the web and YouTube for resources. If there's something out there, it's well-hidden.

Most instruments have plenty of resources so that you can always have sheet music available for whatever level you're at so that you can have fun playing music while you progress.

I'm not asking for book recommendations because that's been hashed out here in many threads.
But can anyone offer some realistic advice for making progress with this instrument in a way that can be enjoyed?
The keyboard is still so foreign to me even after playing hundreds of hours of scales.

 

[debra]

...
But can anyone offer some realistic advice for making progress with this instrument in a way that can be enjoyed?
The keyboard is still so foreign to me even after playing hundreds of hours of scales.

When my wife and I made the switch from PA to CBA 10 years ago we practice scales and chord techniques for a bit but mainly worked on the repertoire from our orchestras. In the beginning it meant learning to mechanically play our parts so essentially we could play what was needed but not much else. And I didnt dare to ever look down at the keyboard because I would be in shock and not find anything. It took us around 6 years to get back to our old level except that even after 10 years we are not yet at the same level for prima vista playing. But with practice we can now do everything we could do with similar amounts of practice 10 years ago. The keyboard stopped being foreign to us after maybe 5 years or so.

So just keep practicing, but go to the songs you really want to play and practice scales when they appear in that music rather than separately.

 

[TomBR]

There was a good reply as well from Geronimo yesterday but it has disappeared. He suggested playing by ear, which I'd strongly agree with. OK, I'm very much a "by ear" player on all instruments, I decode sheet music rather than reading it!
I think that playing by ear, starting with simple tunes that you already know, will give a better feel for the keyboard than playing scales or reading music and translating that dot to that button.

Not in any way disrespecting or devaluing sheet music, but I think playing "by heart" is needed too to get to "the music."
And it should be enjoyable!
Good luck,
Tom

 

[maugein96]

Hi Mitch,

Don't know how old you are, but there is another thread running entitled "Age Related Syndrome", which highlights some of the difficulties experienced by players trying to learn the accordion. Your reference to "starting over" paints a vivid picture to me, as I have tried to do precisely that on several occasions over the last 30 odd years. Every time I tried I ended up calling it a day quicker than I did on the preceding occasion.

The old saying about "old dogs and new tricks" was never more appropriate in my particular case. I would try new styles and various other ploys in an effort to sustain an interest, but the truth was I had reached a standard of "proficiency" that I was just not able to improve upon, consistent with my age, ability, and lack of a suitable teacher.

The general opinion would appear to be that if it isn't fun then there isn't much point to it at all. At least both you and I are able to get enjoyment out of the other instruments we can play. I gave up the guitar for a long time in pursuance of learning the accordion, but I now get a lot of pleasure out of playing the guitar again.

Good luck with whatever you decide. Thankfully we are all different and there may be a spark of something positive that will encourage you to persevere. Tom has mentioned playing by ear, and I must admit that I tend to do the same as he does for any instrument. For the bits I cannot work out I try and find the scores and "decode".

I tend to stay away from the forum these days, as negativity is never particularly welcome anywhere. However, I still look in from time to time, and your post and the other one I mentioned both "struck chords" with me. In my case guitar chords are the only ones I play nowadays, but each to their own!

 

[debra]

...
Not in any way disrespecting or devaluing sheet music, but I think playing by heart is needed too to get to the music.
And it should be enjoyable!
...

O so very true! The sheet music does not actually contain the music. Its a misnomer. It only contains the notes and some crude indications of how to play it (through dynamics, slurs, accents, etc.). But the true music only comes out when you play by heart, and even then only if you know the notes by heart so well that they come automatically and you can just concentrate on converting notes into music.

 

[JerryPH]

I burned out after a few months and put it all away. I was practicing every day: scales, exercises, method book. But not MUSIC!

Why not? Sure it is important to do the scales and chords thing, however, we do that to be able to play music. So, why didnt you do like 30 minutes of exercises, and an hour of working on music? That would have given you a lot of pleasure and kept you playing.